Acts Of The Apostles (6 Of 39)

This man was a picture of the sinner, who is born spiritually lame.

God did an undeniable work in his life, but the ungodly, though religious, would not accept it. It is still the same today. God does great things, and still ungodly men will not accept what He does, and can do, for mankind.

For example, God has forgiven more ALCOHOLICS, DRUG ADDICTS, PROSTITUTES, GAMBLERS, LIARS AND THIEVES of their sins, than any institution or organization has ever thought of helping.

You would think that at least one U.S. Senator would go before the Senate, and say that the millions we have spent trying to cure the problems of mankind have not accomplished the job, but we have undeniable evidence of God's changing:

• Drunks into respectable men.

• Thieves into honest men.

• Gamblers into working men.

• Liars into men who speak the truth.

• Harlots into loving wives and mothers.

So let's encourage more of this.

But no, even though what God has done for people is indisputable, still lost men prefer to ignore God, and His power.

The fact is, if the Lord cannot deliver a man from his sin problem, certainly no man can.

God completely cured the lame man of his condition, and once He did, this man wasted no time getting to the temple to praise God for what He had done.

Then, instead of giving God the glory, look what they did in Acts 4:17b. We read, "...the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees…laid hands on them and put them in hold…”

Peter and John, who were used of God to do this great miracle, were put in prison. Once they turned Peter and John loose, let us see what transpired.

I. THE ASSEMBLING

Verse 23, "And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.”

Notice, once they were released from prison, the Bible says "... they went to their own company... "

That is, they had been with the devil’s crowd, but once they got away from them, they assembled with their own company. Christians are with the ungodly every day, but they prefer to associate with God’s people. The only time they prefer to be with the lost, is to witness to them. Let me give you an example:

Illus: A Christian man was in a restaurant. An ungodly man came in, and immediately began to talk indecently to several of the waitresses. Another man was there, who was threatening to do bodily harm to a man he disliked. There was another man there, who was talking about an affair that he had going on, that his wife did not know anything about. The Christian man was glad to get through with his meal, and get away from that ungodly crowd. He recognized that he did not have a thing in common with them.

Probably, if any of those ungodly people in that restaurant knew how this man felt about being around them, they would have thought something was wrong with him for feeling that way.

Christians do not have a thing in common with lost people. We do not even know where they are coming from most of the time.

They will go out and get in a fight with someone, and come out it with a bloody nose saying, "We sure had a good time last night."

What they call a "good time" is hard for us to comprehend. What they call a good time is certainly not what we call a good time.

Illus: People like this remind me of the story of the six-year-old who could not comprehend his teacher's instructions. He went home and told his Mother he had to have two guns to take to school the next day. The mother asked, “Why do you need two guns?” The child said, “Our teacher said that tomorrow she is going to teach us to draw!"

The Bible tell us that as soon as Peter and John got loose, they ASSEMBLED WITH GOD’S PEOPLE.

And the same thing happens today. When God’s people get a chance, they always want to assemble with God’s people.

Illus: The ancient proverb is still true: “Birds of a feather flock together.” You do not find a sparrow flying with a flock of buzzards.

You can always tell God’s people, by the kind of people they associate with. A man is known by the company he keeps.

Illus: In 1765, John Fawcett was called to pastor a small church at Wainsgate, England. He was with those folks seven year's, when he received a call to a much larger church. The little church paid him only a small salary, and he and his wife could barely get by financially.